Etymology
Origin of holding tank
First recorded in 1970–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“It looked like a shark attack,” said Alexander Halvorson, who was in the same holding tank waiting to go to court that day.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2025
Another detail the woman who turned us away never heard is that Clyde's birthday, listed on the name tag taped to his holding tank, is two days after RayRay's death.
From Salon • Dec. 6, 2024
Describing the smell as "putrid", Braeden Lampard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation his team were transferring rescued fish to a holding tank supplied with oxygen.
From BBC • Mar. 19, 2023
To protect the male sea dragon from bumping the eggs off his tail, aquarists at the New England Aquarium moved him to his own smaller holding tank to be monitored.
From New York Times • Mar. 17, 2023
“Because Dusty Muleman has been dumping his holding tank into the water,” I said.
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
